Peter and Marnie Kerr provide first generation dairy example

Peter Kerr made agricultural inroads from scratch, starting his career while living in suburban Melbourne. Now, he’s a sharefarming success story.

Having farmer parents or grandparents affords a natural head start to most prospective primary producers.

But Peter Kerr has made agricultural inroads from scratch, starting his career while still a teenager living in suburban Melbourne.

Alongside wife Marnie, the Kerrs operate a dairy farm at Bostocks Creek – between Camperdown and Cobden – where they milk 300 cows on 280ha.

The Kerrs have been sharefarming for seven years, during which time they worked on breeding and buying their own Holstein herd.

Peter said the couple bought 200 commercial cows from Marnie’s uncle and aunt three years ago – mostly Holsteins with a few Holstein-Jersey cattle in the mix.

“Our registered Holsteins have been purchased predominantly from local Western District breeders sales and dispersals over the last 11 years,” he said.

“A high portion of the herd has been bred from Casper and Glenda Van Leerdam’s Glenlochland Holstein bloodlines. We have a very strong relationship with Casper and Glenda. They have been great mentors for us and pop out to the farm once or twice a week.”

Peter and Marnie Kerr with their children — three-year-old Jack and 10-month-old Amelia. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The Kerrs have worked to purchase their own farm, which became a reality in December last year. Of their 280ha operation, 120ha is owned by the Kerrs and the remaining 160ha is leased.

Peter said planning ahead had helped them achieve their agricultural goals.

“Know your numbers, set budgets, compare actuals and pay down debt as quickly as possible,” he said. “This will open up the next opportunity and give you a good track record with the banks.

“It’s also important to surround yourself with a good team of trusted advisers and mentors and ask lots of questions.”

Peter grew up at Keilor, in Melbourne’s western suburbs, and Marnie grew up on a sheep and cropping farm near Lismore in southwest Victoria.

They have two small children under four, Jack and Amelia.

Peter undertook a Certificate III in dairy farming during his formative years, fuelling his interest in one day owning his own farm.

“I left school at 16 to start a dairy farming apprenticeship with family friends and then progressed to low-level share with Marnie’s uncle and aunty,” Peter said.

“Marnie grew up on her parent’s sheep and cropping property at Mingay – she juggles working off farm as a nurse and midwife with farm work and looking after our young family.”

The couple are ably assisted by their full-time employee, Alistair Huth, who has worked alongside the Kerrs for more than two years.

“He’s been a key contributor to helping us successfully progress from sharefarming to farm ownership,” Peter said.

Boasting lush pastures within a short drive of Lake Bullen Merri, the Kerrs’ farm has an average annual rainfall of 836mm – with conditions this winter standard for southwest Victoria.

“We have generally gentle undulating country with some flats at the front of the farm, the soil is mostly volcanic clay loams,” Peter said.

“Pasture growth has been slow due to a dryer autumn. However, the paddocks are holding up well so far through winter with no waterlogging or pugging damage like we saw this time last year.”

Peter and Marnie with their children alongside dairy worker Alistair Huth. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The Bostock Creek property has predominantly perennial rye-grass pastures with approximately 10 per cent of the farm renovated each year.

Depending on the season, the Kerrs run summer forage crops with rape or rape and millet mix.

Their paddocks measure roughly 3.5ha to 5ha with old cypress plantations providing a few natural windbreaks.

“The biggest costs have been supplementary feed, fertiliser, chemicals,” Peter said.

“We feed about 1.8-2 tonnes of concentrate per cow.”

The Kerrs are into their fourth season supplying Australian Dairy Farmers Corporation and like most farmers in the region, milk twice daily.

“ADFC have been very supportive of us,” Peter said. “It has been very encouraging to see strong milk prices this year, which should offset the higher input costs.

“Our herd currently averages 550kg milk solids per cow. With some tweaks to the system we are aiming to increase this to 600kg milk solids per cow over the next few years. Our cell count generally sits around 100,000.”

When it comes to genetics, the milking herd is mated with 100 per cent artificial insemination with no mop-up bulls.

“The maiden heifers are joined to sexed semen with a fixed time AI program,” Peter said.

“We have grown part of the herd using embryo transfer programs, flushing one or two cows a year. When we started out we were lucky the farm owners let us use some of their cows as recipients. This was a good way of growing numbers from our best cows.”

With spring providing some much needed sunshine on their Camperdown region pastures, the Kerrs plan to upgrade their stock water infrastructure before summer.

“We are also currently working through plans to extend and upgrade the dairy and yards,” Peter said.

Earlier this year, they became the latest dairy operation in the WestVic Dairy catchment area to sign up to a focus farm initiative.

Over the next two years, the Dairy Australia initiative will follow the Kerrs’ business decision-making in real-time, following up on the challenges and opportunities that arise.

Each focus farm receives support from an experienced farm consultant, who acts as group facilitator, and a support group made up of farmers and local service providers.

“We’re looking forward to working with the focus farm support group to improve our labour efficiency and reduce our debt in order to open up our next opportunity and have some more family time,” Peter said.

“We feel other farm business are getting the same results or better with less time and energy spent,” Peter said.

“So we are keen to learn how they went about setting up their people, systems and infrastructure in order to achieve this.”

The Kerrs are in the running for The Weekly Times Coles 2022 Farmer of the Year Awards. To nominate a great farmer, fill out the form below. To learn more about the Farmer of the Year Awards click here.